you never have to be alone when you get home
by jessicaaday
Summary: He'd been gone for 6 months and today, he was coming back. Basically Amy's inner monologue surrounding Jake's return. Set as the start of season 2, so some 1x22 "Charges and Specs" spoilers.


**Author's note: **I had a moment of inspiration and this is the result of it! This is my first time writing for this couple, so hello! This is the combination of like 10 ideas that I have for the season 2 premiere (assuming that they're using the hiatus as the time jump), so yeah... Enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** Oh, the title comes from the Maroon 5 song 'Sweetest Goodbye' which I don't own, and same goes with Brooklyn Nine-Nine - don't own it, not one bit sadly!

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_"I kinda wish something could happen between us… Romantic-stylez._" were the words she had heard repeatedly in her head for the past 6 months. She wouldn't have minded hearing them so much if it didn't act as a constant reminder that he hadn't been there. He had been out risking his life dealing with a huge case and she wasn't there alongside him, which had become second nature after 3 years of being partners. She should have been there, _why wasn't she there?_

He'd been gone for God's knows how long. Well, to be perfectly honest, she knew and it was far too long. (182 days to be exact, and yes, she had counted every single one of those.)

But today; whilst just another day in mid-September for everyone else on the planet; to her, it was the day he was coming back.

_He did it!_ He solved a case with the freaking FBI. She was so incredibly proud; this was her partner, her friend and someone she _really_ cared about and he had achieved something amazing. Sure, the rest of the precinct were pleased he was coming back but none of them were as excited for his return as she was... (That was a lie, she was pretty sure Boyle was about to explode.)

She was just glad to know he made it; he successfully finished his case without anything drastic happening. Since he left, she had be hoping, wishing, and begging for him to be okay and today was the day he was coming back and she finally knew, he was okay… _Jake Peralta is okay_. (She was also very thankful for his return because being Boyle's partner for 6 months straight is _very_ tiring, constant talk of food, and making her worry about Jake even more was not what she needed.)

* * *

He still wasn't back. _Where on earth is he?_ She thought to herself.

Amy was sat at her desk continuing her normal routine – typing up paperwork and roughly every 2 minutes, would look up at the space Jake should be occupying right now, but instead of seeing him there, she just saw an empty space and let out a prolonged sigh. It was 2pm and he wasn't back yet. She wasn't panicking… Maybe.

Okay, she might have been a little. She'd prepared herself for him to be there and had set herself up to walk in and see him at his desk. She had planned everything perfectly, and for not the first time ever, she found herself questioning if he could ever be on time and follow the plan.

If she had to describe how she'd felt while he had been gone in one word, she would probably say she was lost. She felt alone and in a way, abandoned. She knew she had people to talk to and support her in the precinct, and that they were her friends but she couldn't bring herself to repeat what Jake had said to anyone else, let alone just out loud. _Was she really that oblivious about him? _She couldn't discuss this with anyone. If she had, it would spread like a house on fire. She couldn't even talk to Kylie because she knew that everything would be blown out of proportion and she needed time to come to conclusions by herself. (She found she was talking to herself on many occasions, lucky only when she was only. She didn't need people thinking she was crazy as well.)

It had taken around a month and a half for her to finally decide what she was going to do. She dumped Teddy. Bit of a harsh decision but thinking about Jake whilst being with Teddy was almost as bad, in her opinion, as cheating. She did feel bad for Teddy, she really did but she couldn't think straight when was around. She was thinking about her future here, and to be honest, she couldn't see a space for him in it. He was _too_ nice, _too _perfect, and not the right guy for a Santiago.

She didn't know what she was going to do when he finally arrived or what it would be like. Would it be awkward or would everything just go back to normal and they'd forget his confession never happen? She knew she liked him, sure, but to what extent? For one time in her life, she couldn't work out what her feelings meant.

Her head was all over the place. She couldn't concentrate and just... _Where was he?_ Waiting for him made the day drag on a huge amount. She placed her head in her hands and breathed deeply.

Slowly sighing and rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands, she began to look up again... and there he was. He looked exactly the same and it was like he'd never gone. He was wearing his blue plaid shirt, and his leather jacket with the hood, and looking pretty much as he did when he left (the only differences: he'd got a haircut, and he had bags under his eyes). But most of all, _he was okay._

"Hey." he said, smiling coyly, placing his jacket on the back of his chair.

_God, she'd missed him._

"Hey." she mirrored back, a smile growing on her face.

Her whole mood shifted, and everything felt right. The day could drag all it liked now, because she was happy. He was right there in front of her, and suddenly, her feelings all fell into place and she knew she liked him... _like-liked him. _Everyone else could see the stupidly big smile on her face, but to be honest, she didn't care. Jake Peralta was back and heck, she had no idea what was going to happen, but she was ready for whatever the world wanted to throw her way.

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**Author's note: **That was pretty much just fluff and I'm not sorry at all, that's what my brain wanted to write and there you go! Hope you enjoyed, and hopefully I'll be able to write some more stories for this fantastic show and couple.


End file.
